Zimbabwean Neltah Chadamoyo, of the Africa Centre in Dublin, and Nigerian Taiwo Matthew, who is an independent councillor on Ennis Town Council, have both called on the incoming government to make legislative changes ahead of the next general election.

Under current government legislation, only Irish citizens may vote at every election and referendum. Other EU citizens may vote at European and local elections, while non-EU citizens can vote only at local elections.

Matthew said, "I believe that any immigrants who have lived legally in this country for over five years should be allowed to vote in the general election. Five years is a long time in any man's life and just because they have not completed their process of naturalisation should not stop them from voting. I am not asking for people who have only been here for a year to have the right to vote.

"I think that it is unfair that they cannot vote in the general election but they can vote in local elections. If they can vote for people at council level why can they not vote at national level?"

Matthew and fellow Nigerian Rotimi Adebari, who is on Portlaoise Town Council, are the only immigrant councillors in Ireland.

Matthew believes that the current voting legislation was made "at a time when nobody thought Ireland would be so diverse by 2007 so the country needs to move with the events that have happened here".

"We should be more inclusive and if you are telling people they can't vote after them living here for six or seven years they are being told they are not welcome.

"Immigrants are being left marginalised and this needs urgent attention. It is high time the government took some serious action and stopped the lip service.

The new government needs to change the legislation and appoint a minister or junior minister for immigrant affairs."

Matthew, who has lived in Ennis for over seven years, said, "The only two immigrants elected onto local councils in Ireland were elected on an independent platform. The political parties need to lead from the top and have a practical recruitment process and if they don't that will be a grievous mistake."

Meanwhile, Chadamoyo, who was behind an innovative analysis into the way political parties interacted with immigrants in the run-up to the 2004 local elections, has echoed Matthew's calls.

Chadamoyo, who is studying Equality Studies at UCD, is adamant that giving immigrants voting rights in the general election will "put some fears to rest and give them an added sense of belonging which most immigrants do not feel at present."

"If someone has been working here for five years they should be allowed to vote as they are already contributing to the economy in a very large way. I feel that some political parties have made small changes to attract immigrants into their party but they mostly pay lip service. Parties should be asking us to join se we can work together to build bridges and make sense of what really is going on.

"Immigrants are mostly highly educated people and political parties should not try and belittle the experiences they have had outside the country. The parties need to know that most immigrants will be naturalised by the next election and their votes will make a difference for their members."